Apollo 16 was the next to last moon landing. Little, however, has been spoken of the crisis it faced and the horrific conditions which the crew had to endure. Astronauts John W. Young, Thomas K. Mattingly II and Charles M. Duke, Jr. were given potassium fortified citrus fruit drinks to avoid irregular heartbeats due to potassium deficiency. Unfortunately, this had an unconsidered side effect and there was no air flow to dissipate the aroma.
This was what was overheard by ground control: I have the farts again. I got ‘em again, Charlie. I mean, I haven’t eaten this much citrus fruit in twenty years! And I tell you one thing. In another twelve gosh darn* days, I ain’t never eating any more.
Think of the children, Governor, and stop playing politics.
The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services has filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services seeking to compel them to perform their duty to continue to fund the critical and essential services necessary to care for and protect the most vulnerable populations of this Commonwealth – abused, neglected and dependent children, their at-risk families and juvenile offenders.
The legal action, filed today, Sept. 15, with Commonwealth Court by Lamb McErlane, PC, seeks to ensure that child safety and community protection services are designated as being essential even during budget disputes. PCCYFS, which represents more than 100 private providers of child welfare and juvenile justice services in Pennsylvania, believes that children, youth and their families must be able to access needed and defined services without fear of delay or disruption, even in the absence of state budget decisions.
“Since July 1, PCCYFS has tried to work in a proactive and positive manner with the Wolf Administration to have the state’s child welfare and juvenile justice services designated as essential services to ensure that public dollars flow despite the current budget impasse,” said Bernadette Bianchi, Executive Director of PCCYFS. “Unfortunately the Governor’s Office has failed to acknowledge the Commonwealth’s responsibility to financially support funding for these mandated services. We wish we did not have to take this legal action, but it is necessary to ensure that children, who are entitled to these services, continue to have uninterrupted access to these crucial services.”
“In the vast majority of cases, these child welfare services – which include in-home supports, foster care, and residential placements – are court-ordered. Children requiring placement out-of-their own homes due to abuse or neglect need protection, but the Administration has nonetheless refused to classify these interventions as ‘essential’,” said attorney Joel L. Frank, legal counsel for PCCYFS.
“Juvenile offenders requiring rehabilitation to keep communities safe are also not included on this essential services list,” Frank said. “That the state receives federal money for many of these programs, but the Administration is refusing to make those existing federal funds, or the necessary state funds, available to counties to pay counties and service providers is frustrating, improper and violates a comprehensive federal and state statutory scheme enacted to protect and serve this specific population”.
“The state has a responsibility and a duty to fund these critical, essential programs,” said Alex Rahn, Wanner Associates and Government Affairs Consultant for PCCYFS. “The Administration’s failure to fund these programs – while at the same time claiming that child daycare subsidies are “essential” — is unacceptable and irresponsible public policy. This court action is designed to protect these vulnerable and at-risk populations. We will not stand by and allow the safety of children or our communities to be held hostage in this budget debate.”
Federal and state laws define the entitlements of children who have been abused or neglected. Services to ensure their ongoing safety, as well as the supports to be available to their families, are often also put into court orders. Many of these supports, including programs offered in the child’s home, foster family care and residential placement, are delivered through contracts between counties and private provider agencies. These services are clearly intended to be funded with designated public tax dollars.
Juvenile offenders who have been declared by the court to be in need of rehabilitation are another population of youth with entitlements to interventions. Those youth who present a threat to the safety of their community require placement interventions and are again primarily served through the private provider network. Although funding continues for some youth served in the State Youth Development Centers, services for youth presenting the same behaviors placed in private facilities are not.
Private agency staff are working every day to meet these legal and ethical expectations – many programs are staffed round the clock, seven days a week. The additional pressures of worrying about how to pay for the care, supervision, food and transportation for these children and youth by exhausting agency resources, taking out loans and staff layoffs are an unfair consequence to the agencies committed to this work. These services are absolutely essential to the health, safety, and protection of Pennsylvania’s children, are certainly required by federal and state laws and must be funded. PCCYFS is confident the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania will agree.
It appears that newspaper editorial departments across the state are offering their opinion on the state budget. Let me set the record straight — the legislature met its obligation to pass a balanced budget by the constitutionally required deadline.
The budget sent to Gov. Wolf on June 3 included $1 billion more for spending than the previous budget. Gov. Wolf chose to veto a budget that was balanced, did not raise taxes, and provided increased education funding. Notably, two-thirds of the line items were funded at or above the amount that the governor requested.
Gov. Wolf had the power to use what is called a line-item veto — he could have approved approximately 270 items, and he could have vetoed the rest. Instead he has left organizations in our communities scrambling to stay afloat because he insists on a tax-and-spend budget that exacerbates the problem that I continue to call attention to — Harrisburg does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.
Gov. Wolf claimed during his political campaign that he turned around his family business, which meant reining in costs and reducing waste. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen him show a willingness to perform his private sector business magic on Pennsylvania.
Our state is financially distressed and needs a turnaround governor, not a tax-and-spend governor.
I take my role as a state senator seriously. I serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee. I sat through 33 hearings on the budget covering 80 hours.
I have considerable private-sector business experience. The various companies that I own, along with thousands of other businesses in Pennsylvania, continue to withhold weekly payroll taxes from employee paychecks and send those taxes to Harrisburg weekly along with other taxes the companies pay, so the cash flow to Harrisburg continues.
Let me be crystal clear: I will not be voting for any additional tax increases. I will continue to beat on the table demanding accountability for the taxes everyone already pays.
I would ask editorial writers to do everyone a favor and stop blaming the legislature and point the blame to Gov. Wolf.
